The present invention relates to a tilt control apparatus for industrial vehicles, and more particularly, to an industrial vehicle tilt control apparatus for locking an axle, which is tiltable with respect to the vehicle body, in accordance with road conditions.
In the prior art, forklifts employ rear axles that are tiltable with respect to the vehicle body to stabilize the traveling forklift. However, the tiltable axle causes excessive tilting of the vehicle body when centrifugal force is produced as the forklift changes directions. This degrades the stability of the traveling vehicle.
Accordingly, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58-211903 describes a forkilift having a detector that detects centrifugal force. When the centrifugal force acting on the vehicle exceeds a predetermined value, the tiltable axle is locked. The locking of the axle minimizes the tilting of the vehicle body when changing directions and enables stable steering.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58-167215 describes a forklift having a weight detector for detecting the weight of objects held on the forklift's forks and a height detector for detecting the vertical position of the forks. The tiltable axle is locked when the weight of the object carried on the forks is heavier than a predetermined value and when the forks are located above a predetermined position.
However, in both types of forklifts, malfunctioning of any one of the detectors would hinder the locking of the axle. This would hinder stable steering of the vehicle.